Balta1701

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 23, 2011 -> 09:33 AM) Glad to see you are OK with it! Glad to see that you are ok with it too.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Dec 23, 2011 -> 09:07 AM) For those who seem to feel that Quentin is of little value, and was a "one hit wonder" in 2008. It might be revealing to know that, even if you throw out 2008, his numbers over the last 3 seasons are still very impressive: If you combine all of his stats over the years 2009, 2010 and 2011, and divide by 160 games per season, he has produced at the following rate: 31 doubles, 32 homers and 100 RBI's per 160 games. I suspect that there are plenty of teams that could use that kind of production. Now, can he stay healthy? That is a question that every GM would have to address. I've personally always worried more about all of those "Hit By Pitch" numbers. Except for the Plantar Faciatis, his injuries have pretty much been a result of hard play, and do not suggest that he is 'fragile'. Of course, his contract status is another thing. But even aside from the injuries, you've left out the numbers where he really hurt the team...over that stretch, he's hit .245 and put up a .336 OBP. His OPS over that 3 year period is .815. While that's decent for a corner OF, it's not spectacular, and it's really not tolerable with the kind of defense he's played.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Dec 23, 2011 -> 09:12 AM) How the Colts handle the #1 pick (assuming they don't beat JAX, which isn't a given at this point) is very simple: Pre-draft you tell teams the cost of the #1 pick is their best OT, their best DT, their #1 pick for 2012, and either their #2 pick for 2012 or #1 pick for 2013. See if there might be an idiot owner who would pay that price to upgrade to Luck over, say, Rex Grossman. If not, draft Luck and sit him for a year and see how 2012 goes before deciding how to proceed in the future. Depending on who the players coming back are, that's much less value than I'd expect them to get for that pick. The starting price ought to be 3-4 draft picks, where the Colts get the guys without having to take back the contracts. Especially if you want to do the th ing I think is a Mistake, keeping Peyton Manning on the roster and paying him a $28 million bonus in March (read that number again before replying), you can't be taking players back for Luck, just picks.

Mehmet Okur goes to the Nets in exchange for a future 2nd rounder. Nets had cap room, take on an $11 million expiring contract.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 23, 2011 -> 08:56 AM) Great. So you'd have no problem with Dick Cheney conducting world diplomacy? How about a better example...the father of the current president being a key member of an international group that deals in arms and heavy equipment amongst other things meeting directly with the head of Saudi Arabia to discuss economic issues. Thankfully, I can't find a single example of that happening. (By can't, of course, I mean, google it yourself).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 23, 2011 -> 08:53 AM) The next obvious question would be has Jimmy Carter denied it? No the obvious question still remains why on Earth anyone would think this is a bad thing.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Dec 23, 2011 -> 05:02 AM) Unless I'm missing something, no Gordon Gecko? Ouch, he's usually on all these lists. Welcome to the post "Money never sleeps" world. If it weren't for the terrible prequels, Vader wouldn't be as low as #2 eitehr.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 11:20 PM) If not for Heath Ledger is Joker number 1? No. His performance jumped that one up probably 5 spots in my list.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 23, 2011 -> 05:58 AM) What the utilities can do in order to avoid this is to institute demand side management protocols to reduce demand across their control areas rather than institute rolling blackouts. Of course, if "Avoiding rolling blackouts" was a serious goal, then spending substantial amounts of money modernizing the transmission grid would be the obvious thing to do.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Dec 23, 2011 -> 12:41 AM) I already acknowledged they have some interesting pitching, but is that really enough to overcome the Phillies, Braves, and Marlins? The ace in the hole for the next few years with the bats is Bryce Harper. If they're sitting on another version of Pujols/Bautista, then that suddenly makes any lineup competitive.

QUOTE (Andrew @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 11:54 PM) This, plus - my next question would be - was this a secret to Ozzie? He was sticking him in situations that didn't favor him all year. No big Ozzie fan, but I can't believe he'd do that KNOWING there was an issue with his kid. Come to think of it - I doubt Ozzie would be able to keep his f***ing mouth shut about it. Well...Ozzie has managed to keep his mouth shut about other guys' personal problems in the past, at least until the point where that player leaves the Sox and rips Ozzie.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 23, 2011 -> 03:09 AM) There's not really a reason to expect guys like Dunn, Peavy and Rios to be horrible SIMPLY because they're in their early 30's. No, but you can add in the additional element of them being utterly, utterly horrible last year...and then ask how many men (note that I said men, things that used to be men until the steroids removed those organs don't count) significantly improve once they're on the wrong side of 30?

Of course, our best example of rolling blackouts over the last decade was entirely fraudulent an manufactured by Enron.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 04:54 PM) No one really knows, I remember people saying he's looked much 'bigger' with the Sox, others saying he looked exactly the same as Washington. What we do know is that Adam Dunn does not work out or 'pick up a bat' until Spring Training. Apparently this has changed this year. I don't believe Dunn ever said he didn't work out in the offseason, just that he didn't swing a bat.

Conseco Fieldhouse renamed "Bankers Life Fieldhouse".

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 04:45 PM) Oak got a nice haul back. In 3-4 years, some of these will make decent trade chips in Beane's ongoing rebuilding project.

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 04:44 PM) If the Sox did land Cespedes, he would start off in the minors, right? I wonder what level he'd start off in. I certainly thought Alexei belonged in the minors all the way up until May 2008 when he started getting regular playing time, and the dude totally proved me wrong.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 04:36 PM) Taking it upon yourself to conduct US diplomacy is a pretty big deal. And yet, the Carter Center has been extremely useful for U.S. diplomacy in the past, not just in this area, but in terms of elections and human rights worldwide. Perhaps you'd like to explain how we'd be better off without it?

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 04:14 PM) If we do nothing in response to his death, we needn't worry about their craziness. Yeah, because we haven't had any need to worry about their craziness in the past decade.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 04:09 PM) What does that even mean? Carter is doing it as a favor to Obama even though he didn't want him to, or because he wanted him to? Carter is doing a favor for his country, keeping himself open as a back channel that North Korea may be willing to work through in the event of a crisis which needs diffusing through nonmilitary means. So, he's doing it as a favor to Ron Paul for all I care, it's still useful and has been useful in the past at avoiding things like wars. Which apparently some have forgotten...are bad, and should be avoided.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 04:05 PM) These people are crazy, who knows what they'll interpret it as, nor do I care. It's wrong. It's having zero principles. It's giving respect to a man that deserves none. You don't care about the behavior of the most erratic nuclear armed-country on Earth? I'd call that equally crazy.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 03:46 PM) So this is a backdoor attempt at an official statement? No, this is a backdoor who is smart enough to realize he should keep his door open, because someday it might be useful, again.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 03:34 PM) Why say anything at all? I don't understand that. Ignore it. Don't be a dick about it. Don't laugh in the guys face. Just ignore it. Build bridges on a later date that doesn't involve directly or indirectly saying sorry for losing one of the worst leaders in history. And yes, I agree, that this has come from the Ministry of Crazy People, and we don't know exactly what Carter said. However, the fact that he reached out is more than enough for me to think it was incredibly stupid. But you don't think that "No statement" might be interpreted as a deliberate effort to burn a bridge, and could prevent continued talks later? That's exactly why the South Koreans and the US did not offer official statements of sympathy, so as to express their disapproval with the government at a national level.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 03:20 PM) To which "injuries" are you referring? Brook Lopez is a big dude, they get stress fractures. Kobe's injury was happening whether he had an extended preseason or not. Baron Davis's back is always an issue... I'm trying to think of any other big injuries, and can't. Jeff Green has a heart thing, that's clearly unrelated to basketball. Going through the official injury report list, there's no one there that really surprises.